Super Shoppers

Tuesday, March 12, 2019


This was the day Mary Lou and I had set aside for a shopping splurge. We began by having Ray drive us out to the AIM mall, which is just beyond the African Heritage Cultural Center. Ray agreed to wait for us while we made a quick tour of this supposedly modern shopping mall. It has a movie theater, food court, and lots of high end shops. But there are also many vacancies and some shops were offering 70% off sales, which is definitely not a good sign. However, the elevator and escalator worked perfectly, and that’s a big plus for me.

The reason that I wanted to visit this mall was because my friend Sharon had told me about a jeweler in the mall who would likely be able to assist me in finding a nice, but reasonably priced Tanzanite ring. I had promised a friend I would look for such a ring for her, and time was running out for this year’s stay in Arusha. We found the shop and were ushered into a back room, where the jewelry is displayed. The shop manager, Vijay, showed me several rings in a price range of about $200. There were two which interested me, and one was a solitaire, which she had listed as a preference. However, the setting was not what I thought she would like. The second ring was not at all what she would have envisioned, but it was beautiful. Both Mary Lou and I loved it, and it was just the right size. So, I bought it. Mary Lou said if my friend didn’t like it, she definitely wanted to buy it from me. If it had been in my ring size neither my friend nor Mary Lou would ever have a chance at it.

I love this ring.

As we explored further in the mall, MaryLou noticed a shop which sold secondhand clothing. This seemed odd in such a swanky mall, and it was even funnier when MarLou noticed that one of the dresses in the window still had a Goodwill price tag on it. The shop was not open, so we couldn’t check out more of its merchandise.

Second hand dress

Goodwill must be mistaken as a brand or shop name.

With my major purchase for the day made, I was ready to have Ray drive us back toward town and drop us off at Shoppers. This is the newest big supermarket to open in Arusha. It is on the same site as the former ShopRite, and later, Nakamatt. It is too far away and too expensive for us to visit often. However, it has smaller shops on each side. I had been to the ones to the left, but not the right. And things often change. Our main shopping goal was to buy two khangas for Ngaisi. We had been told there was a shop with khangas on the right side of Shoppers, but even though we searched both the upper and lower levels, we couldn’t find it. We did, however, find a spectacular kitchenware shop, where I was tempted to buy a buy a bread pan and really wanted a cast iron kitumbua pan. (Maybe next year.) We even discovered an entire extension of shops I hadn’t known existed. In that area, one could buy a bible or rent time on a small electric car for a child to drive for 10 minutes.

10 minutes for less than $.50

I knew that on the other side of Shopper there would be several cafes where we could have lunch, so we walked over to left side. The ugly new Pizza Hut is being built right on that corner as one enters the parking lot. Beside the building there was a brand new Pizza Hut delivery bike with a young man in a bright red Pizza Hut shirt. He was very enthusiastic about the impending opening and the wonderful delivery bike. When we told him that Pizza Hut was an American franchise, and we didn’t like their pizza very much, he was very surprised. But, he barely missed a beat before inviting us to be special guests at the grand opening, perhaps as soon as the next week.

Pizza Hut is ready to deliver.

We walked on past coffeehouses, one which roasted on site, a burger shop, and stores selling frozen seafood. There was a Tanzanite store at the end, but we didn’t accept an invitation to enter and “just look.” The other side of the parking median was almost all cafes. I had spotted a Mexican restaurant, something I had never experienced in Africa before, so we stopped, looked at the menu, and decided to have lunch there. Since Mary Lou detests tomatoes finding something for her to order at a Mexican restaurant took some major negotiation. She finally settled on fajitas, and I ordered a chicken burrito. The food was really very good and only slightly odd. The “wheat tortillas” turned out to be chapatis, but they were very light and crispy. We asked our waitress where we could buy khangas, and she waved toward the other side of Shoppers.

My first opportunity to have Mexican food in Africa

My burrito though a tad different was very good.

MaryLou with her fajitas

So we walked all the way back to the shops on the other side, and still didn’t see a shop selling cloth.  It seemed like a very good time to stop at a nice cafe and coffeehouse for coffee and ice cream. After we treated ourselves, we asked the waitress here about the cloth shop, and she told us that we had to go to the end of the shops, turn left at the corner, and it would be there. So, we did as instructed, and there was the most lovely cloth and African clothing shop imaginable. The very personable shop woman, Rachel, was nursing her little 6-month-old son when we entered, but she quickly handed him to her dada and began to show us all the khangas she had for sale.  We eventually chose two for Ngaisi, and then MaryLou bought one for herself. Khangas always have a Swahili saying on them. MaryLou’s meant that one should never tire of receiving gifts, but when she looked at the Swahili words, MaryLou was sure it said A Gift of Chocolate in a Cup will Choke You.* Rachel seemed to enjoy that mzungui joke.

Rachel and her son

There was an incredible selection of cloth

MaryLou's khanga

I found a remnant of kitenge we could use for making diapers for Ngaisi. Rachel knew exactly how to size and cut them for us, too. That was a real relief to me! Then, MaryLou started looking at the trousers and African dresses hanging on racks, and eventually she bought one of each for herself. It was a big purchase for her, but the clothes are well worth it. This is definitely a shop I will return to in the future.

Kitenge diapers hung to dry after being washed with glycerine soap

Finally, we were ready to head back to Kundayo. There were bjajis parked outside the entrance to Shoppers, so we hired one to take us all the way across town and back home. We returned in triumph and showed John all of our amazing purchases. Then it occurred to me that I hadn’t bought a single thing for myself. But, there is nothing I need anymore, and shopping for others is more fun.

*  A very similar saying: ”Zawadi ni zawadi, usichoke kupokea."
"A gift is a gift; don't get tired of receiving."